[SPEAKER_03]: Hey everybody, this is Matthew Soltisiac, and you're listening to not the same old Lions podcast, part of the minute media podcast network.

[SPEAKER_03]: The Detroit Lions are now in a new, gritty or era, and we look beyond just an e-calf when it comes to the analysis.

[SPEAKER_03]: I speak with a variety of guests and interview key players, gaining more insight on what makes this team go.

[SPEAKER_03]: Welcome to another episode.

[SPEAKER_03]: In this episode, we discussed at Detroit Lions 52-21 victory over the Chicago Bears at Ford Field for the home opener of the season.

[SPEAKER_03]: We'll hit on what well for the Detroit Lions' offense, like the offensive Lions' or golf on Ross St.

[SPEAKER_03]: Brown and a host of others.

[SPEAKER_03]: We'll also talk about the defensive side of the ball and what went well there for guys like Brian Branch, Kirby Joseph.

[SPEAKER_03]: In Hutchinson and many more like usual we'll talk about what we like and things that we might think still need improvement that and more Let's get to Alliance fans.

[SPEAKER_03]: Hi, this is Dan Miller and you're listening to not the same old Lions podcast [SPEAKER_03]: Joining me today is Coach Jerry Angels, former Michigan high school coach of the year as well as coaches of the week by the Detroit Lions.

[SPEAKER_03]: He's a scouting and training director for Bull Rush Sports.

[SPEAKER_03]: Coach, good to have you here.

[SPEAKER_01]: Happy victory Sunday.

[SPEAKER_03]: that it isn't.

[SPEAKER_03]: Thank you for staying up late to get this thing recorded joining both of us is the sports writer of the year.

[SPEAKER_03]: James Cook also the senior sports writer for the Traverse City Record Eagle.

[SPEAKER_03]: Pull and double do today work an Iron Man duty and staying up for this as well.

[SPEAKER_03]: James, thank you for being here and doing this as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: no problem.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's always, if it would have been talking about a loss, this would have been maybe pretty bad, but it's pretty easy to get up for this when it's talking about a crushing win.

[SPEAKER_03]: that adrenaline gets you going it and if you don't always have the adrenaline going want to let you know that this episode is brought to you by Roaster Jack Coffee and Travel City, Michigan since 1999 they've been roasting premium beans from small farms around the world, fresh their order just for you.

[SPEAKER_03]: Visit roasterjack.com, use the code Lions, you get 20% off your next shipment, Roaster Jack Coffee, be a hero, brew great coffee and go Lions and guys this [SPEAKER_03]: getting up early, did a pour over at 6 a.m.

[SPEAKER_03]: for my wife.

[SPEAKER_03]: We got ready to head out to Detroit.

[SPEAKER_03]: Fill your we get some coffee going, and it made a good road trip.

[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, let's get started here.

[SPEAKER_03]: Guys, overall reaction.

[SPEAKER_03]: Just one sentence or two, James, start with you.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is what we expected last week.

[SPEAKER_03]: All right, James is done, microphone drop.

[SPEAKER_03]: Well, that's one sentence, all right.

[SPEAKER_03]: James, I'm sure Coach is gonna use your extra sentence or two, Coach.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've waited 252 days to talk about a lion's victory because that was the last time we had a victory against the Minnesota Vikings and it's so nice to be able to do that again in smile.

[SPEAKER_03]: the man's countin' the days, but you know what?

[SPEAKER_03]: A coach never forgets, right?

[SPEAKER_03]: So that makes a lot of sense there, coach.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: I'm gonna say this game went the way I hoped it would, but like, times 10.

[SPEAKER_03]: And so didn't know how it would go, but it went exactly how I hoped it would.

[SPEAKER_03]: Times Ted didn't even see this comment.

[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, didn't add it all.

[SPEAKER_03]: So, all right, guys.

[SPEAKER_03]: We're going to get into the major storylines of this game, and that's what we'll get to at some point, but we're going to start with what we like because that's what we do.

[SPEAKER_03]: What do we like about this one?

[SPEAKER_03]: I want to go with the offensive line coach because, you know, you see all the stats, the catches, the touchdowns, the passes, the rushing yards.

[SPEAKER_03]: But it all starts with the offensive line and that was a huge issue last week in Green Bay.

[SPEAKER_03]: Tell me what you saw to the offensive line.

[SPEAKER_01]: I totally agree.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think we didn't, I don't even know if we had any negative runs.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'd have to go back and through that again.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I think everything was downhill.

[SPEAKER_01]: It looked like a running backs are going downhill.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, we were standing in those two and three yards.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, the communication like they talked about, they cleaned it up.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, when you look at it, it's basically we're doing Campbell.

[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody said all week was we're going to clean up communication.

[SPEAKER_01]: go back in, you know, the bread and butter, and that's exactly what they did.

[SPEAKER_01]: Look at how clean the pocket was for Jared Goff.

[SPEAKER_01]: Even when the pocket wasn't clean, he just slid it was right.

[SPEAKER_01]: Made some throws, even came out.

[SPEAKER_01]: So it was just, it was, it was really good to see that with the young guys and, and, uh, had on hat, man, I'm man, he monoling monoling, and, uh, we basically, own the line of scrimmage.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I think there's only one run for a loss, and that's only because gives that got pushed backwards, but then like the guy separated so then suddenly forward progress was like discounted or whatever, and then he was then re-engaged there.

[SPEAKER_03]: So otherwise it would have been exactly like you said.

[SPEAKER_03]: And that was a huge difference from what we saw in the Green Bay game.

[SPEAKER_03]: And then James just Jeragov having that time to throw the ball.

[SPEAKER_03]: and you know go through multiple reads that was a different to make or two.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah and I like to see them when they were on the goal line they give the ball the to Montgomery and that show you yardage such down and they ran the ball right behind Tate Rattledge.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know right behind the very behind one of the guys who kind of struggled a little bit in the in the first game.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then all of a sudden the talk about changing coordinators is kind of gone away.

[SPEAKER_00]: Pretty darn quick.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, we're going to talk about extra lot of things will change pretty darn quick.

[SPEAKER_03]: I have a feeling on the Monday and Tuesday talk shows when they're talking about this.

[SPEAKER_03]: Well, let's let's start with the running game.

[SPEAKER_03]: Lions had 5.9 yards of carry in this game.

[SPEAKER_03]: But I want to point out though, they were averaging 6.2 yards of carry at the end of the third quarter.

[SPEAKER_03]: When they were up 38 to 14, they had 177 yards on the day.

[SPEAKER_03]: We do know that things went a little different in the fourth quarter.

[SPEAKER_03]: Things got a little bit more conservative.

[SPEAKER_03]: Different players got swapped in and out.

[SPEAKER_03]: So that right there is way better than was it was it 2.1 last week or something like that coach.

[SPEAKER_03]: I mean this is bread and butter like they might have chosen peanut butter and jelly on it although I know sonic and knuckles did not want peanut butter and jelly to be their nickname maybe bread and butter i heard Danny Rogers talking about it all nicknames aside this is where it starts for the lions this sets up the play action [SPEAKER_03]: tell me what you saw about the running game.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think that was it.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, again, it was the plus it was staying ahead of the stick.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it was that maybe a two-year gain or one-year gain or three-year gain, you know, and then they turned into maybe a little bit of an explosive on that.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that was the biggest thing was, you know, they continued, yeah, we had some big runs.

[SPEAKER_01]: But again, that's, you know, that's what you got to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, and we were, you know, run first, pass second, play action, pass team, [SPEAKER_01]: change, you know, change complexity, the offense line, how they block and it also sets up the defense on what we want to do with it, you know, and so, you know, I, we established that, they probably want to be a little bit better on it, you know, next week, I'm sure they're going to work on it, but, you know, they're going to get better, they're going to find some flaws in it because they're always flaws in it, but, but it's set up the offense and it's set up the set up the great game plan.

[SPEAKER_03]: All right, I mean, I said the Lions would double the rushing output of last week, which was not that difficult to do, and they more than doubled it.

[SPEAKER_03]: They probably tripled it or almost quadrupled it, nearly quadrupled it, maybe quadrupled it.

[SPEAKER_03]: James, I don't think they guys many touches as you thought they were going to get, but I think some things in the game plan dictated that.

[SPEAKER_03]: That said, I think when you look at the average, the numbers, the touchdowns, those are things you're all happy with.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, the first half they were average in 7.8 yards a carry or a play, not a carry, but a play, you know, for the whole offense and ended up at 8.8 by the end of the game, and that's with like you said at the end of the game, they were just kind of running the clock out, doing some more conservative things, but yeah, the offense was great, Jared Goff, huge numbers, 340 yards, 5TD, 0, 0 picks, the only thing wrong he did all day was that leap into the end zone.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, yeah, you call him at a leap.

[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, that's okay.

[SPEAKER_03]: Jared, Jared's making fun of it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Kind of a lean, he kind of leaned in doing it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, that was, that was ugly.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, and I, I, I, I replayed it because it was, I was laughing so hard and I don't know if you saw his press conference, but he brought it up.

[SPEAKER_01]: He just said, I thought there'd be some of there to help me who all there was, you know, uh, Saint, oh, it's classic.

[SPEAKER_01]: Anyways, I, he probably won't do that again, but at least he, he got the experience that he said.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, he got to try and he owned it and whatnot, again, having been there at the game, I've only seen some of the replays on some of these things that were on the board or whatnot or what I saw myself.

[SPEAKER_03]: So I haven't had the chance to coach to go back and watch that a couple times, which I'm sure I will.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's worth it.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's worth it.

[SPEAKER_03]: All right.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, so yeah, golf was 23 of 28 for what 334 yards and those five touchdowns, amazing quarterback rating, you know, everything very different than last week.

[SPEAKER_03]: He did miss Jamo on a couple shots early in the game.

[SPEAKER_03]: There was a deep one and the guy next to me is like, I didn't think you could over throw Jamo, especially a quarterback without a strong arm.

[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, wait, did I say that?

[SPEAKER_03]: But he had happened and then there's another one where golf was scrambling.

[SPEAKER_03]: and jama was like wide open like that I don't even think there were cows in that pasture was so wide open but just you know that bad throws happen that said I think golf showed a lot of other incredibly placed footballs to uh competition to uh make up for that yeah was that the one where jamason Williams was running for like 30 yards with one shoe on maybe that was it was only one shoe [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, he like lost a shoe like early in the route on one of those deep shots early and it was just running with one shoe on Wow, he'll ever throw [SPEAKER_03]: Maybe that's what happened, yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: So Jaymo did have two catches.

[SPEAKER_03]: Each of them were over 35 yards.

[SPEAKER_03]: Thank you very much.

[SPEAKER_03]: He's like, you know what?

[SPEAKER_03]: He probably listened to the podcast and was like, well, I didn't get it last.

[SPEAKER_03]: We can call it for it last.

[SPEAKER_03]: He said I need to make up for it.

[SPEAKER_03]: And we'll do two today and he didn't listen to the podcast.

[SPEAKER_03]: Maybe, but yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: So he got two of those big explosives right there.

[SPEAKER_03]: James, this wasn't the Tennessee Titans, but it was 52 points.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it was.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's the first time in Lions history where the team has had 500 total yards, five passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns in the same.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, same time.

[SPEAKER_00]: Wait a minute.

[SPEAKER_03]: Wait a minute.

[SPEAKER_03]: That never happened under Ben Johnson.

[SPEAKER_03]: No.

[SPEAKER_00]: Only under John Morton.

[SPEAKER_00]: uh...

and it's also the third time the line scored 52 points in the last two uh...

two years i think so that's the that ties him again for the third highest scoring game in franchise history so that that's it with the number of quotes in the records there you go hit a lot of it [SPEAKER_03]: Good, yeah, because we know coach is not like those as much and understandably why I get it But but when when that first number of the score is a five and there's a second number behind it coach that that speaks Speaks volumes because that doesn't happen that often in the NFL [SPEAKER_01]: And I think it's, you know, James talked about 8.8 yards, you know, 8.8 yards per play.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's just unbelievable.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then, you know, the thing is we had the explosives.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think that was the biggest thing is we, you know, we nickel and dime or, you know, show your yards whatever together.

[SPEAKER_01]: But we always had some clutch plays to bring it back.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I never, I mean, you never really, any drive did you ever feel, oh my god, where there's no way we're going to get a first down on the strife.

[SPEAKER_01]: you know, I think that's that's the one thing that I noticed about it and I think that was, you know, them they established.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think golf said that they they've said a total of how many explosives they want per game I can't remember yet that he said 10 and I think we had eight or maybe had 10 of them.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, [SPEAKER_01]: You know, again, that's that goal sheet that that, you know, you do in the locker room and the coaching staff and the meetings that people don't see and say, oh my god, we play terrible, but you hit those, you hit those certain goals and look what happens with it.

[SPEAKER_01]: You put 52 points on the board.

[SPEAKER_01]: And and and Chicago's defense is not bad.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's not that they're front they're for grading those guys are some good football players and and they got a good corners.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, look at the one, you know, the one break up that, um, [SPEAKER_01]: What's the corner that got hurt for Johnson Johnson Johnson thank you that that one where you dove and knocked the ball down on St I mean that was just a great play, but then again you go back then you go wow and we still put 52 points up on the board on those guys so very impressive [SPEAKER_03]: Yes, and I said the Titans last year, because the Titans and Jacksonville were both teams that the Lions put 52 points up on, but I don't think people were putting the Bears in the same category of those last year's teams going into this, and so that's where it speaks volumes, and as great as the offense was, and we will come back and reference some of those things.

[SPEAKER_03]: the defense had a role in this game.

[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, they forced, I would count, but three or four turnovers because they had the force fumble, they had the interception, and I believe it was twice on fourth down Ben Johnson went for it and they did not get it.

[SPEAKER_03]: So the defense doing that, they didn't always turn into points.

[SPEAKER_03]: down, but it stopped drives and it kept the bears from getting with it back within a score.

[SPEAKER_03]: You know, you kept the margin there and coach went when that differential is like that, that impacts the game plan for the other team, because it's suddenly it's not within a one score game, they still have to kind of play catch up.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, they're for sure.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, he threw some gray balls today, you know, those low ball going across the middle, keeping away from defenders and things like that.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, you want to, you know, let's talk about some players that things had branch force that fumble.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, branch at six solo tackles, he had, you know, he had two past defenses, a sack and a force fumble and TFL.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, Tylique Williams, guys, had.

[SPEAKER_01]: Tyler Williams had batted two balls down.

[SPEAKER_01]: And again, I think we had a conversation on Twitter last week with somebody saying that he wasn't playing hard enough.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, maybe that's exactly what he's supposed to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's going to he's going to push the line of scrimmage.

[SPEAKER_01]: And if he doesn't get to the quarterback, he's going to put his hands up and he did.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then the pressures again, you know, if we want to go through, we've had four sacks.

[SPEAKER_01]: How many pressures do we add?

[SPEAKER_01]: Mohammed, Davenport, Hotch, and then Branch.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you know, we go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and [SPEAKER_01]: Our young pops as well as our older guys, you know, did an unbelievable job.

[SPEAKER_01]: But you know Williams I mean though we can go on and on and talk about who who had different and who did who had the most Or the biggest impact, but it was the whole defense the corners of the safeties and then that safety We got that get some interception every once every five or six games freaking laid out They got it.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's got to quit intercept in the ball because they're gonna move into offense because usually DBs play DB because they can't catch the ball But but Joseph had that interception was unbelievable so anyways [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, it was, you know, he's then those turnovers, right?

[SPEAKER_03]: Campbell recovering it, Brian Branch for us in it, BB.

[SPEAKER_03]: And we're, we're, we're getting to the stadium and he actually pulled in right in front of us, at least I presume it was him because as soon as he pulled in the, the security guard, the security guard goes, hey, BB, how's it going?

[SPEAKER_03]: And I turned my wife out, that's got to be Brian Branch in that car.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: So he got to the stadium early and, uh, he, [SPEAKER_03]: he warmed up and did what he had to do and made his presence felt.

[SPEAKER_03]: Kirby Joseph with that interception, you guys and we make it to this later, but did they show the celebration on television after the interception?

[SPEAKER_03]: Yes.

[SPEAKER_03]: I got a great, I got a great video of it and I just was like, no, he did not just do that.

[SPEAKER_03]: Like an ode to his former offensive coordinator.

[SPEAKER_03]: That was amazing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: And a trick play that they ran against the bears.

[SPEAKER_03]: Exactly as a stumble bomb.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yep against the bears by his coordinator [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, yeah, and I would throw La Roy Lopez into there too is as it was a guy who had another good game He was he was pushing the pocket Making a difference on some of the snaps that he was in there.

[SPEAKER_00]: Tilek had a really good game like like coach said and then they had the fourth downstop Where they tried to run the ball, too, where I think it was Tilek and reader Who just owned the line of skirmish and and weren't gonna give up that yard and and they got stuff on that one [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, third and third and one and then fourth and one, fourth and one, their own 30 what 37 yard line Ben Johnson went for it and and it actually did not cost them any points because that's where we missed a field goal, but yeah, that's awesome to see them stop a team like that on two plays and a road James going right up like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and then missed field goal was, uh, it was set up because of a rarity in a I'm enrassing brown drop.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, he had the only one all season last year.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's already got one this year.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to take it out on the jugs machine.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think this week.

[SPEAKER_01]: Was that the one where?

[SPEAKER_01]: There DB tipped it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I can't remember it was on the the third down right before they went for the field goal.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's a cross in not one.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: He normally catches those anyways.

[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: But talking about the investment that they made on the interior of that line.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if you mentioned if you saw that former Lion Jonah Jackson took a swipe at Brian Branch after he sat to Caleb Williams at one time.

[SPEAKER_00]: I did not.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, he gave me nice little, nice little friendly shove.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think he was high five.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just saying I don't.

[SPEAKER_03]: Well, I do want to say Caleb Williams longest run of the day was 10 yards.

[SPEAKER_03]: And so that's containing a quarterback who's got mobile abilities.

[SPEAKER_03]: And that kind of come back to that crush that can thing we've we kind of talked about that the Lions want to just, you know, bring it in there and [SPEAKER_03]: And I'm just going to say there's great tackling all the way around in this game, even on short passes, the Lions took the player down and did not let it turn into something else.

[SPEAKER_03]: And so that right there coach fundamentals getting back to basics, like when you limit things like that, then the other team has to be that much more efficient in order to beat you and you eliminate those explosives.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, exactly, and I mean, that was the biggest thing that they did, too, is, you know, like you just said, they didn't get any yards after catch, you know, that we, you know, we had a couple, we'll talk about that later.

[SPEAKER_01]: But, but everything seemed to be in front of them, you know, and again, that going back to the fundamentals that Dan Campbell talked about.

[SPEAKER_01]: We were going back to the fundamentals they showed up.

[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, I've said this probably a hundred times on the show, take care of the little things, the big things they'll take care of themselves.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's what the lines did.

[SPEAKER_01]: They took care of the little things.

[SPEAKER_03]: All right, he said Mohammed did well, Davenport got a sack.

[SPEAKER_03]: And then obviously, huts, oh my goodness, the Sadie me rupted when some huts got his sack.

[SPEAKER_03]: And it may have been evident on television as well.

[SPEAKER_03]: But he was pretty, yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh yeah, because he was just, you know, blowing kisses to the crowd after the after that sack and the crowd just went crazy.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: All right.

[SPEAKER_03]: And we talked about Tyler Williams that passed the election on fourth down was huge.

[SPEAKER_03]: And guys, that was the third quarter and the bears were going for it.

[SPEAKER_03]: So right there, that's the third thing I liked, the third quarter.

[SPEAKER_03]: This is two weeks in a row.

[SPEAKER_03]: The third quarter's actually been good for us.

[SPEAKER_03]: The lion's outscored, the bear's 10 nothing in the third.

[SPEAKER_03]: That took it from a 28 to 14 lead to a 38 to 14 lead.

[SPEAKER_03]: Um, so that right there just separated it and you're like, okay, by the end of third quarter, it was like, can we run this clock down and move on?

[SPEAKER_03]: So, yeah, I mean, and then halfway through the fourth, the bears were pulling Caleb Williams and putting in Tyson, Bayesian.

[SPEAKER_03]: And so, yeah, that third quarter coach, that's two weeks in a row now, that's a lot better than what we saw in the past at times.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you know what I'm going to tell you right now, the success in the third quarter goes right back to the end of the second quarter.

[SPEAKER_01]: with that guy we waste a third hump pick on.

[SPEAKER_01]: The guy's only got two catches on the year and we wait.

[SPEAKER_01]: Why would we waste a third hump pick on him receiver like that?

[SPEAKER_03]: And a guy that doesn't even use both hands to catch the bull.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that guy.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, he's got red homes.

[SPEAKER_01]: Can you do your own work a little bit better?

[SPEAKER_01]: But anyways, we'll leave that one alone.

[SPEAKER_00]: But that guy has yet to make a two handed catch in the NFL.

[SPEAKER_01]: Exactly.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's got two of the best catches for the, you know, he's going to be on the highlight real strawberry buddy.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's only got two catches and I can't even set it as press [SPEAKER_01]: You know, if you make a, if you, if you get in for one play and make them play too, well, he said, well, they asked them about only one catch, because that's all we need them for, or something like that, it was hilarious, but, but again, let's go back to that, is that play, you know, getting that score right before they're keeping the bears away from, you know, keeping the bears away from going too for, you know, getting a score, because they scored in the second quarter, and then they get the ball in the third.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that not, that went knock the window or something.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I mean we know that and then and then in the third quarter we just put the foot on the gas which we've like you said again We had we've had a ton of the pros and last year was a little bit better in the third quarter But remember the year before it was like how we why we losing that we always losing the third car always losing the third correct [SPEAKER_01]: right and now you know last year got a little bit better but but this was there was no they came out foot on the gas and let's go you know hands on both wheels and and it was just awesome to watch and see and they didn't pull you know whether it's going to be passing around and they had their game planning and they stopped to it.

[SPEAKER_03]: When you talked about yeah and the beginning of the game I mean it was play action play action right away to start this game it was like [SPEAKER_03]: you put the defensive backs on their heels right away before they could get up there to crash the box.

[SPEAKER_03]: And yeah, you had to do a lovely aggressiveness there for that past a Tesla there, James, right before halftime because I coach said, the bears have cut it to a seven-point game and if they get that too for, and they come out and score even if they had to feel gold, then it's suddenly, you know, it's a four-point game, but you went up by 14 at the half and then coming out, we held them to three and out.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, maybe a play the game.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, thing later.

[SPEAKER_03]: Well, well, yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: Well, well, we'll hold some of those.

[SPEAKER_03]: I got to give a shout out to Jack Fox guys.

[SPEAKER_03]: All right.

[SPEAKER_03]: I'm going to say it was it was in the final minute to this football game.

[SPEAKER_03]: I think Reynolds had run at three times in a row and the lions had to punt with about four minutes to go.

[SPEAKER_03]: But Jack Fox sent a 62 yard or down there to put it inside the [SPEAKER_03]: Hey, remember me and remember us and you know I still think our special teams are the work in progress right now With our kick return and our pump return Raymond did okay.

[SPEAKER_03]: It took a pretty hard hit on one And we'll slow to get up a state right in the game, but I do think our kick return and maybe the whole NFL's kick return for that matters a work in progress But I wanted to shout out to Jack Fox coach anything you saw to this special team July that you wanted to bring up [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's just, you know, it's the same thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you know, you talk about the return gadgets.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's tough to keep to have two great return guys because you have to worry about those guys also coming down and tackling the hitting people.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's, you can't waste that roster spot anymore because I think I think that's what's hurting it.

[SPEAKER_01]: I, I don't even look at the other teams until we play him to see what who their turn to return guys are.

[SPEAKER_01]: but we have a linebacker returning and they just kicked in the linebacker all the time and the guy can run and he goes hard and I think there's another thing knock on wood.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're not turning it over.

[SPEAKER_01]: We haven't fumbled on up on return.

[SPEAKER_01]: We haven't fumbled on a kick return and maybe that's their mantra, that's their say just, you know, make sure we keep the ball.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so anyways, yeah, I totally agree.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know we're going to talk about play of the game, but since we're talking about special teams, [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to tell you right now the play of the game, Pat O'Connor on the first kickoff guys.

[SPEAKER_01]: He annihilated the runback.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now let me say this again.

[SPEAKER_01]: O'Connor, our defensive tackle.

[SPEAKER_01]: annihilated the returner you guys when you look at it you're gonna go oh my god that as far as I'm concerned that's the play of the game because that set the tone on how the lions were gonna be playing in this game but you know we did score right away but but we talked about special things for bad last week but seeing all kind of fly down like that and just just throttle on that running back was awesome.

[SPEAKER_03]: All right.

[SPEAKER_03]: Well, I've got to admit that first kickoff happened so quickly that I like the music was playing.

[SPEAKER_03]: I looked down that looked up And I'm like wait, and I kind of like missed half of it.

[SPEAKER_03]: So I will be checking that out on the film this week Folks, remind me to tell your friends and family about this show.

[SPEAKER_03]: You can find us on Spotify Apple podcast all major streaming platforms as well Is the video version on YouTube and then on social media you can find us on Twitter as well as Instagram [SPEAKER_03]: Okay, now, and again, what did we not like?

[SPEAKER_03]: What concerns do we have?

[SPEAKER_03]: Because there's got to be something.

[SPEAKER_03]: It wasn't perfect.

[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, I'll tell you this, Dan Gamble, even Jared Goff, especially I think Jared Goff, said that they had some missed opportunities.

[SPEAKER_03]: He said it in his post game presser.

[SPEAKER_03]: I already mentioned it, those two to Jama were missed ones.

[SPEAKER_03]: And you know, just off target a little bit.

[SPEAKER_03]: So some missed turnovers were right there, not turnovers, missed opportunities right there on those connections from GoF to Jamo.

[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, it wasn't perfect.

[SPEAKER_03]: So James, anything you saw that you thought, hey, maybe something different.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I mean, one of the things that I didn't like the branch had another kind of costly penalty, um, you know, it not the worst penalty in the world, I mean, he was trying to make a play and and couldn't avoid.

[SPEAKER_00]: running into Caleb Williams because he was up in the air and everything and then Davenport with the potential shoulder injury that I don't know that it looks too serious but they weren't sure after the game what exactly it was or anything like that but I was in a chat game-based chat on this one message board and the second that he went down [SPEAKER_03]: it was the low hanging fruit well all right you brought up two topics so it's at that first one the Brian branch penalty all right that wiped out Terry and Arnold's first interception of his career would have been and I mean and I want to point out that is the only reason the bear scored points in the second half of this football game okay and that doesn't happen the bear's [SPEAKER_03]: I know, again, I didn't see it, I saw a replay in the place and I guess he did his head.

[SPEAKER_03]: But that is, I don't like that call.

[SPEAKER_03]: It might meet the letter of the law, but not the spirit of the law.

[SPEAKER_03]: That's one of those one of my favorite phrases is there's a reason for it.

[SPEAKER_03]: But like, yes, that does technically make the technicality of it.

[SPEAKER_03]: But like, [SPEAKER_03]: You know, there's certain things.

[SPEAKER_03]: If you jump up in the air, swatin at the ball and then your hand comes down.

[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, and the guy moves his head into the path or whatnot.

[SPEAKER_03]: Again, I didn't see it that clearly, but yeah, and I'm all for player safety and protecting people that went right there, though, just [SPEAKER_03]: didn't sit great with me but James I know you got to see it on video and you said it was rather legit from your perspective.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well I mean he made contact with the head so they were they were going to call it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't necessarily agree with it either.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean it wasn't a grieges.

[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't something where he was trying to hurt him.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think it was even anything where Caleb Williams could have gotten hurt on that play really.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was just [SPEAKER_00]: contact with the upper body, you know, I mean, he was just jumping and it was his arms for the most part and it's not like he was hitting him in the head with his shoulder pads or anything.

[SPEAKER_03]: coach your thoughts on that at all.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, that was weak.

[SPEAKER_01]: Um, but here's the thing is, you know, Jim, he hit, he broke the rules, you know, he was a penalty.

[SPEAKER_01]: They call the penalty.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, coaching coaching wise defensively, you know, we tell people never leave their lose, leave their feet because, you know, quarterback pump fake.

[SPEAKER_01]: She leave your feet.

[SPEAKER_01]: He runs out and he gets out of the pocket.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, [SPEAKER_01]: He's trying to make a play.

[SPEAKER_01]: The guy's just trying to make a play.

[SPEAKER_01]: He disagreed with it as press conference, but he also said, hey, I feel bad because I messed up TA's first interception.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's the thing about this team and I will get him another one and help and get him another one.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I wasn't a critical one.

[SPEAKER_01]: It didn't cost.

[SPEAKER_01]: They were good costs in the game.

[SPEAKER_01]: It didn't cost us.

[SPEAKER_01]: But you know, and so he won't leave us feed again.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's something that we can we we can grow on.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I was a little upset about it, but whatever, this is what it is.

[SPEAKER_03]: Well, that's one of the things I think for this is, there's just gotta be just a way to, I don't know, officiated a little bit better, like a quick replay of some sort, which could slow things down.

[SPEAKER_03]: Like, I'll tell you the college game, I don't like the targeting call at all, because then one thing, even if it's not intentional, the way it happens, a guy can be gone for the game.

[SPEAKER_03]: And so that's where like, the personal foul thing at least, at least you need to have two of those before you're gone.

[SPEAKER_03]: I know I'm switching from pro to college.

[SPEAKER_03]: But again, you can commit the foul because two other two different things happen simultaneously unintentionally, and that gives you that result.

[SPEAKER_03]: So, but you're right, did not cost us a victory.

[SPEAKER_03]: Let's move on to Daab import.

[SPEAKER_03]: He got hurt on his sack.

[SPEAKER_03]: The sack he made, he's down on the field, and it's like, oh my goodness, then he did come back, I think, and then he did leave.

[SPEAKER_03]: And you're right, James, everyone's like, I mean, there's a, the toll just so crowd out there, eh, no matter what happened this game, we knew we were gonna be hearing about Zedarius Smith, and the fact that the Lions didn't sign him.

[SPEAKER_03]: And I would love to have him back.

[SPEAKER_03]: I would love to have more depth on that end.

[SPEAKER_03]: I'm not the one making the decisions, and as we said, there's a puzzle, it's got to get put together, but Davenport's health is critical.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you know he talked about it too he said I was I came back because I had to come back from my teammates.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't like he said I don't know if it's that bad in the sederious smith thing I'm just going to say one word Muhammad end of story because Muhammad can do a sederious smith men and probably better because he's younger and he can set the edge.

[SPEAKER_01]: So the lion's get the lion's way the right choice but we're not going to hear that.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's something somebody's got to complain about something on the social media so they [SPEAKER_03]: Well, Muhammad was great in this game.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yep.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yep.

[SPEAKER_01]: Wingo.

[SPEAKER_01]: The whole work.

[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Another thing I think for people are, I think there was, I think there was, I think that's a little bit of criticism of Brian Branch on that play where Caleb Williams was in the red zone and William, when Caleb Williams was rolling out to the left and Branch left his guy to come, and we're like, that's the right call.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because otherwise, Williams walks in.

[SPEAKER_00]: He had to leave his guy and it's like you'd make a make a throw.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yep.

[SPEAKER_03]: Throw them and go bad.

[SPEAKER_03]: Hey, ask me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I graduated from Arrow.

[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't come up.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a walking and it's a freebie, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Making at least complete a pass.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: It was a great play concept, you know, they put a sign on Island with the motion across a motion back.

[SPEAKER_01]: So again, that's something they're going to clean up, because they probably haven't seen it before.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and you make the guy make the throw ask Maryland's quarterback against Ohio State when they went for two and the guys wide open.

[SPEAKER_03]: He misses, um, that's the only difference between Maryland losing or beating Ohio State.

[SPEAKER_03]: Handful of years back.

[SPEAKER_03]: And so, and did not happen.

[SPEAKER_03]: And so, yeah, I agree.

[SPEAKER_03]: Hey, branch head to make it a decision.

[SPEAKER_03]: You go for the quarterback.

[SPEAKER_03]: Otherwise, he runs in James.

[SPEAKER_03]: Exactly right.

[SPEAKER_03]: Um, hey, another big thank you to Roaster Jack coffee company for sponsoring not the same old Lions podcast order fresh roasted to order coffee at Roaster Jack.com and you saved 20% with the code Lions.

[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_03]: And every game there are pivotal moments.

[SPEAKER_03]: There are turning points.

[SPEAKER_03]: There are things that can be different makers in it.

[SPEAKER_03]: Games.

[SPEAKER_03]: What's something you saw in this game that [SPEAKER_00]: Um, I don't know that it's necessarily, some people, I just don't agree with this, but I think when Arnold forced Swift back inside in that one play and then branch hits him forces the fumble, Campbell recovers, I think that whole whole series kind of for the lions, I think was big for their defense to get a stop, get a turnover, stop any momentum Chicago had and I think just kind of [SPEAKER_00]: give some of that give them give the defense some of their confidence back after last week.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I think getting a turnover early in that game was big for the defense and and Arnold played that perfectly and he won't get any credit in the stats for it, but he but what he did was forcing swift back inside where branch was able to just get a good shot out of them.

[SPEAKER_03]: That's great, and that was like a series.

[SPEAKER_03]: That set off a series of events where all right, the lions got the turnover, right?

[SPEAKER_03]: They caused that drive, that fumble.

[SPEAKER_03]: And then the lions had to punt, right?

[SPEAKER_03]: I don't think they got any points after that.

[SPEAKER_03]: and then but the defense kept the bears from keeping up at that point and then in the early in the second quarter it was fourth and one from their own 37 and that's what we talked about before with the bears went for it the lion stopped them and what happens next.

[SPEAKER_03]: We, you know, we get the Kirby Joseph interception.

[SPEAKER_03]: I think I said a couple things slightly out of order.

[SPEAKER_03]: We may have gotten point after that fumble.

[SPEAKER_03]: No, are we punting it?

[SPEAKER_03]: Don't happen.

[SPEAKER_03]: All right.

[SPEAKER_03]: But then even after we stop the bears on that fourth and one from the 37, that's when we miss the field goal.

[SPEAKER_03]: But then, [SPEAKER_03]: Kirby gets the interception.

[SPEAKER_03]: Brock Wright touched down.

[SPEAKER_03]: Lions go up 21 to 7.

[SPEAKER_03]: So it was a series of events there.

[SPEAKER_03]: And I think all those things played together.

[SPEAKER_03]: And the defense, that's where the defense really showed up coach because the offense had a couple of miscues and things just didn't happen.

[SPEAKER_03]: But the defense, again, kept the bears in Chase mode.

[SPEAKER_03]: And that changes your offense.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, yes.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, going back, I'm going to tie in with with the pivotal moments what we didn't like and and because those all tie into it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: And these are things that will that they will work on this week that will come back to haunt us next Monday night if we don't take care of it.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're talking about that pivotal, all those different pivotal moments, stop, fumbles, uh, four down stops, we scored seven points in that situation.

[SPEAKER_01]: We only got seven points as one of the golf things that golf talked about.

[SPEAKER_01]: Again, I don't know the exact order to write them all down, but that's huge.

[SPEAKER_01]: The miss field goal in that situation, because that all ties into that, you know, you guys already said it.

[SPEAKER_01]: So you got, now you've got two negatives in that concept.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I think so, you know, I, you know, with the forecast stop, so I think those are, those are things.

[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't like, but those are things that the defense stopped up and made some big stops to keep it in there.

[SPEAKER_01]: Can we do that to, to a Lamar Jackson?

[SPEAKER_01]: Can we do that to a Hertz?

[SPEAKER_01]: Can we do that to, you know, these are things that they're going to have to clean up.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so I think that those are pivotal moments.

[SPEAKER_01]: And one other thing too, I, you know, [SPEAKER_01]: way didn't bring up.

[SPEAKER_01]: We blew the coverage.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, remember the blown coverage.

[SPEAKER_01]: They, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh uh, uh uh, uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh [SPEAKER_01]: On the kickoff, I don't even guys remember that, but that put him 15 yards closer, they scored on that drive.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yes, it was, yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: Did they score on branches 15 as rough in the past or also?

[SPEAKER_01]: And did they score on branch throwing the helmet last week also?

[SPEAKER_01]: So those are some things that I don't like, Lions don't like, and they'll clean up again.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not faulting branch on as one this game.

[SPEAKER_01]: But those 15, those penalties in those critical situations is tough for the team to come back, especially with the opponents that were in a week to face and down the road.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, yeah, but we're going to talk about those major storylines and the narratives surrounding this team in just a moment and even Expound on that more, but the play we talked about briefly, which might be someone's play the game.

[SPEAKER_03]: I don't know folks.

[SPEAKER_03]: We have our plays of the game.

[SPEAKER_03]: We have not shared the coach kind of did he might have to.

[SPEAKER_03]: But the bears had brought it within seven.

[SPEAKER_03]: They were going to get the balls to start to third quarter and [SPEAKER_03]: the Lions scored before halftime to go up 28-14 to that incredible past play Isaac Tasselaw set things up.

[SPEAKER_03]: That was big James because it kept the two from happening for the Bears and it was crazy and I would like to know what it was explained on television because I'm in the stadium the clock starts running or it is running.

[SPEAKER_03]: Jeragov goes despite the ball but they don't seem to be in the biggest hurry.

[SPEAKER_03]: Then, you know, half the bear squads walking off the field.

[SPEAKER_03]: I got video of it.

[SPEAKER_03]: Then you see them turn around and walk back to their sideline.

[SPEAKER_03]: And then of course, there were six seconds left.

[SPEAKER_03]: They have time for one play to the end zone.

[SPEAKER_03]: I'm on Rossi Abraham to touchdown.

[SPEAKER_03]: What we see on television, James.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, they actually had one of the referees do a press conference to explain it, so Mark Butterworth came out and explained it to how they made a mistake and calling it ruling it out of bounds initially.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, and then when they reviewed that, they discovered, or they, they figured out that, that it tastes like made the catch, but, uh, was contacted by the defender while you're still in bounds.

[SPEAKER_00]: So there should have been 16 seconds, um, the lions didn't have a timeout.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it was a 10 second runoff.

[SPEAKER_00]: So then they got the ball with six seconds.

[SPEAKER_00]: I ended up working out much better for the lions, because as the, with the clock running, you know, they ran up there and tried to spike the ball and then get it off in [SPEAKER_03]: OK, that makes a lot of sense because Ben Johnson made some sort of a comment in his post game presser about the rustics playing to him later that a mistake was made and there was like it there there was a 10 second runoff or there should have been a 10 second runoff.

[SPEAKER_03]: It was somebody in big U.S.

[SPEAKER_03]: away Ben Johnson said it, but that makes sense where he said it was at 16 that brought it down to six and that was awesome because that kept it a two score game going into half time coach.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you know on that again, too, you know, the thing that Ben Johnson was talking about was that if they would have seen the plague correctly.

[SPEAKER_01]: in the first place, then that 10 second one or not wouldn't have gave the lines the ball was six seconds and said we wouldn't have scored, you know.

[SPEAKER_01]: So that's kind of, you know, that's a bang bang play.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, geez, you know, it's that quick to, it's got any touch of what a catch.

[SPEAKER_01]: Man, when did he have possession of the ball?

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh my God, so, but yeah, worked out best for us.

[SPEAKER_01]: And somebody had put on Twitter, it's not the same old lines, which I was kind of cool because I heard there's a podcast out there and I called it not the same old lines, but because that call went our way, [SPEAKER_03]: All right, well, let's talk about plays of the game, all right, coach, you talked about the O'Connor one to start the game, but since that was the very first play of the game, did you have a second one that came up?

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I was actually the first play of special teams game, but because there's three phases to a team sport, a football, [SPEAKER_01]: on offense doesn't just win games, defense just as won games, and especially, but all three of those together.

[SPEAKER_01]: So the first play the game would be, and my favorite play would be the throw-to-saint to start the game.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, that nice little cross route, and you know, he beat the guy.

[SPEAKER_01]: I love the way he adjusted his route and got a little more vertical because the guy was on his inside hip.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we're going to throw that one out there.

[SPEAKER_01]: I already got my boy O'Connor because then he set the tone He set the tone for special teams and then I'm going to go with Williams in his tip passes Just because you know You know, you know, the Davenport and Hutchin and in this and branches hits and those but just him [SPEAKER_01]: a rookie doing that is it means he's getting coached up.

[SPEAKER_01]: So those those three things right there I think set the tone for the for the 52 at the 21 victory today.

[SPEAKER_03]: Alright, so rather than each of us choosing our own play of the game, James, coach has chosen three plays of the game, so he's chosen for us, but now it's all good.

[SPEAKER_03]: We're going to throw ours in as well.

[SPEAKER_03]: I liked how you took one from each element of the team because it takes all of those to have that victory.

[SPEAKER_03]: James, what do you have for your play of the game?

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, the taste law one, obviously, is was huge, but you're kind of already talked about that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I like the, uh, the play where I'm enrossing and Brown just schooled Tyree Stevenson on that comeback route in the front corner of the end zone.

[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, I mean, they just made that look so easy.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, he, he, he got Stevenson to just completely bite, uh, got him turned around and then [SPEAKER_03]: nice.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and three touchdowns.

[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, that's he's ever done that before right coach in a game.

[SPEAKER_01]: I, that's a rumor.

[SPEAKER_03]: So so I was kind of trying to figure out what my play of the game was going to be.

[SPEAKER_03]: And I'm glad neither of you guys said it.

[SPEAKER_03]: There's so many possibilities though, but in the third quarter, the barriers go three and out.

[SPEAKER_03]: They punt.

[SPEAKER_03]: The ball goes to the Lions 22 yard line, and what happens next is Jamison Williams zigzags all over the field for about 64 yards.

[SPEAKER_03]: They'd come out of half time.

[SPEAKER_03]: The bears had the lions, you know, after having to go three and out, okay, at least we got field position, and then the very next play, James and William says, no, you don't.

[SPEAKER_03]: It only resulted in a field goal for the lions, but that made it a three score game at that point, 31 to 14.

[SPEAKER_03]: And so, that James and William, I mean, [SPEAKER_03]: It's hard to over overrule the test law thing because that's just darn incredible.

[SPEAKER_03]: But you got to see James and William's digging and zagging and speeding and just having fun.

[SPEAKER_03]: And that was, so I thought that was pretty awesome.

[SPEAKER_03]: Mm-hmm.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a go back to the taste law catch.

[SPEAKER_00]: So when you're teaching wider receivers, don't you tell them to use two hands?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, your arms are the same length.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we can do that.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we want thumbs up or pinkies together.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, thumbs together and pinkies together, but yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let him do whatever he wants, just keep dancing to do it.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I'm all in, but you know, I guess we were going to major story lines, but another guy we didn't mention is Brock Wright, man.

[SPEAKER_03]: I got just contributing in this game, and you know, so, all right, but major story lines, the return of Ben Johnson, there was some Ben Johnson chance in this game.

[SPEAKER_03]: I don't know if you can make them out on television, but my daughters were not allowed [SPEAKER_03]: But after the game, Brian Brandt admitted it was, or admitted, I don't even admit it.

[SPEAKER_03]: He stated that he felt there was a betrayal of Ben going to the division rival.

[SPEAKER_03]: And I know this wasn't about Ben.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's about the Lions writing this ship.

[SPEAKER_03]: But you know, the fans reacted to Ben, James, what are your thoughts on that?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think that was some bitter, bitter feelings with fans and the players, you know, that he left especially, I think people knew that he was gonna leave eventually, obviously, because he was just always the coach that was being talked about being the next head coach somewhere.

[SPEAKER_00]: Every opening that there was for a vacancy for a head coaching job, Ben Johnson was mentioned.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you knew he was going, but then when he went to Chicago, I was like, I was really surprised.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if you want to use loyalty or whatever that that he would be a little bit more loyal to Dan Campbell and not go in the division Because there was other there was plenty of other openings in the NFL last year that he could have gone to But I mean I can't fault like I've for taking a job.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a huge pay raise And it's something he said he wanted to be a head coach for a long time now.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, I don't fault him for taking the job [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and you know, I blame you actually for convincing me he wasn't going to take the job because you talked to me about loyalty and his friendship with Dan Campbell all last season that I started the I maybe won't happen, but you know, it could be worse.

[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, the bears could have fired Eber Fluss a year before and hired some guy named Jim Harba.

[SPEAKER_03]: And so, um, yeah, coaches, yeah, we don't get into that one.

[SPEAKER_03]: I'm not going to talk about that, but I will say this Ben Johnson coming back is different than Matthew Staffer coming back for a couple of reasons.

[SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_03]: Staffer didn't play with more than half of these guys.

[SPEAKER_03]: There was so much roster turnover in that time.

[SPEAKER_03]: Stafford did not go to a division rival.

[SPEAKER_03]: The lions chose where Stafford went to.

[SPEAKER_03]: And so that was different.

[SPEAKER_03]: And he was the enemy when the lions played them in the playoffs.

[SPEAKER_03]: You've got to picture right there when the lions finally won that playoff.

[SPEAKER_03]: But it's different when Ben Johnson.

[SPEAKER_03]: I had no animosity towards Stafford.

[SPEAKER_03]: He just wanted to beat him in his team that day because they were standing between us and a playoff victory.

[SPEAKER_03]: And that's all that mattered.

[SPEAKER_03]: It chose to go to a division arrival.

[SPEAKER_03]: Now again, I get it.

[SPEAKER_03]: They probably had one of the more talented rosters out there.

[SPEAKER_03]: And coach, if you're a coordinator, you know what it's like.

[SPEAKER_03]: We've seen some guys in the Mac, they have to take that shot in the big 10.

[SPEAKER_03]: When you get that phone call, because if you don't take it at some point that phone doesn't ring anymore, and I get it, but James did say there were, you know, there were a few different teams out there that were interested.

[SPEAKER_03]: I'm not surprised by the reaction to him coming back.

[SPEAKER_03]: The boon and the general dislike and whatnot.

[SPEAKER_03]: So you got both sides of it though.

[SPEAKER_03]: The return of Ben and that atmosphere, but also the importance of getting the game right to just do the things you needed to fix from last week coach.

[SPEAKER_03]: So what are your thoughts on the return of Ben Johnson, the Lions season opener?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean the boon and the boon and root for him to lose that the, [SPEAKER_01]: the abuse of language on him and stuff like that for our community to a lot for our city.

[SPEAKER_01]: Not in those players hate them.

[SPEAKER_01]: No, those guys dislike them because he went to a rival.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's it's it's no different.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, and I think in branch has been going against him and practice for like three years and that's also, you know, comes up.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't, you know, I mean, that's the, that's the thing is, yeah, I'm not.

[SPEAKER_01]: A.

G.

I'm rooting for a.

G.

Every game when Ben Johnson coaches sometimes I am but he's in her he's in her division so how do I want to root for him in our division unless you know it's going to help us in the in the big picture so yeah packers I mean you know I can root for those guys in that situation but so that that's the big thing with him I don't I you know I I think yeah you boom I think yours loud because yeah he did he it's it'd be like [SPEAKER_01]: that's not going to happen.

[SPEAKER_01]: Michigan going to coach at Michigan State.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can't, you know, I'm not college level.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, one thing I noticed, they asked him in his prepped conference about, what do you think about Dan Campbell running the score up?

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, because we've been hearing all this negativity all week that Jared Goff can't play without Ben Johnson.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's a narrative this week.

[SPEAKER_01]: Ben Johnson can't coach without Jared Goff.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, is that you're going to be out to this week?

[SPEAKER_01]: You don't do things that you think about, but the point back to that is when they asked him in his press conference about, uh, Dan Campbell, he said, what is he supposed to do?

[SPEAKER_01]: It was worth more and that's what Dan Campbell does end of story and I love that part.

[SPEAKER_01]: He could, he could have snapped back at that, but you know what, he'll feel if he believes that he's going to feel it, but he didn't, he didn't throw back out there for Dan Campbell here.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, uh, you know, I wish him all the luck.

[SPEAKER_01]: Again, I don't know yet.

[SPEAKER_01]: I haven't figured out what games I'm going to look for, but I definitely against Packers.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, when they're playing the Packers or any way, it can help us.

[SPEAKER_03]: And that's the thing.

[SPEAKER_03]: He, you know, he did some great things with the Detroit Lions offense.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's just, it's tough to see him over there trying to help that dream get better.

[SPEAKER_03]: But yes.

[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: All right.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I saw them chewing on the pan and I kept going, what have got to do wrong?

[SPEAKER_01]: We just scored again.

[SPEAKER_03]: And I did like how he didn't take the bait from that question about running up the score because it wasn't running up the score, it was, you know, why are we going to go for a field goal at this point?

[SPEAKER_03]: We're going to score a touchdown or you're going to get the ball at your own four-yard line and have to go 96 yards, so that was good.

[SPEAKER_03]: Well, here's a big storyline.

[SPEAKER_03]: I think a lot of critics who jump ship and started swimming away got halfway to shore and they're turning around and they're swimming back, hoping to get a lion's lifeboat after this one James.

[SPEAKER_03]: I haven't been on social media yet, but I'm expecting that to be the case as well as the shows the next couple days.

[SPEAKER_03]: overreaction right week one you know this this ships halfway sunk week two oh my goodness they fixed the ship and put a turbo motor on the back of it I don't know horrible analogies but uh...

overreaction each ways each week james what what do we make of this team yeah it's a little harder to jump back up that cliff uh...

that's you jumped off it so yet some of those some of those fans are going to have a little bit of an awkward [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and coach, you know, I kind of want to do my best to take the Dan Campbell approach, which is don't get too high, don't get too low, know there's going to be ups and downs, just because everything went as well as it did this week, does not erase last week, and it does not guarantee what's going to come next week.

[SPEAKER_03]: And we know next week is a team that has scored 40 or more points each of their first two games.

[SPEAKER_03]: So that's going to be one heck of a [SPEAKER_03]: So what do you make of the lions this week?

[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, we already know what we make of them, but, you know, that's tale of two games right there.

[SPEAKER_03]: Coach, what was your reaction or analysis of the lions after two weeks?

[SPEAKER_01]: We're one and one, just like last year, just like the year before.

[SPEAKER_01]: Actually, we're one and all now, and, you know, it's time to move on, but the big thing is they answered, you know, the big they answered all the, they answered all the credit, well, I should say they answered their selves and made their selves better, they don't care about the outside noise.

[SPEAKER_01]: and I think that's the biggest thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm very, very impressed, very pleased, of course, as a fan.

[SPEAKER_01]: And if I was a coach, I'd be very pleased, but also, man, there's a ton of things to work on.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, they're not going to be too high.

[SPEAKER_01]: You guys already said that.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're going to say, hey, we write, we write to the ship.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not tipped over, taking out a water.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's just leanin, and we just, well, we just got to fix some things and not continue to, continue to play and see [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, after the game, James Coach Campbell said, hey, we were concerned about getting our first win of the season.

[SPEAKER_03]: We wanted to get that done.

[SPEAKER_03]: And again, that's where I said, the between the lines, they're looking for the wins.

[SPEAKER_03]: You know, yeah, the Ben Johnson heirtoves out there and stuff.

[SPEAKER_03]: But they had to write a ship avoid the back-to-back losses that they have gone on since what?

[SPEAKER_03]: Since actually, that Packers game I was at in 20, 23, right?

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, when they started one in six, since that game, they have not lost back to back games.

[SPEAKER_03]: And so that talks about the ability that team debounds back.

[SPEAKER_03]: And also, it shows that they cleaned up a lot of those missing assignments, those missed things that they had last week.

[SPEAKER_03]: Everyone was going more the same way.

[SPEAKER_03]: And it's good to get that feeling now because you got a big road test coming up.

[SPEAKER_03]: So are we going to do this every week?

[SPEAKER_03]: No, are we going to do last week every week?

[SPEAKER_03]: No, every week will be different.

[SPEAKER_03]: But I think everyone feels a lot calmer this week.

[SPEAKER_03]: Um, anything else on the team, I thought, I want it.

[SPEAKER_03]: Well, I didn't know to St.

[SPEAKER_03]: Brown.

[SPEAKER_03]: He took some hand us, uh, you know, one early on, Montgomery was lined up at wide receiver on that play.

[SPEAKER_03]: And [SPEAKER_03]: You know, maybe they're putting it on tape because maybe they're going to throw it to St.

[SPEAKER_03]: Brown out of the back field later in the in the season coach.

[SPEAKER_03]: But uh, uh, uh, the first time it was fine.

[SPEAKER_03]: And then they did it again.

[SPEAKER_03]: And I'm like, we got like three running backs that all would be very capable of that.

[SPEAKER_03]: I want to same brown and such a great pass catcher, like to keep that out.

[SPEAKER_03]: But what do you see in doing a thing like that?

[SPEAKER_01]: It's there's something down the road.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm saying they're putting on to me like you said there's They're trying to get the running backs out there.

[SPEAKER_01]: They put same brown back there.

[SPEAKER_01]: They can motion, you know, they can motion to empty St.

[SPEAKER_01]: control the ball memory through that strike to Jared golf last year.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think it was right and say through that.

[SPEAKER_01]: So [SPEAKER_01]: maybe he's maybe they're working them as our backup quarterback.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, but you know again, I think it's something by putting him back there.

[SPEAKER_01]: Again, we went against the Chicago Bears and was saying in the backfield that all last year for us, I think there was a few times.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so maybe they'd through that out there, you know, I don't know, you don't get to get something going probably and they probably said there's no way Saints can run the ball here and you ran and got the [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and that's the thing you use what but Ben knows against him because as you said coach, you know everything.

[SPEAKER_03]: I've taught you.

[SPEAKER_03]: I know everything.

[SPEAKER_03]: You don't know.

[SPEAKER_03]: You said it somewhere eloquently.

[SPEAKER_03]: How'd you say it last week?

[SPEAKER_01]: I said, you got me.

[SPEAKER_01]: I can't even repeat it now.

[SPEAKER_03]: All right.

[SPEAKER_01]: We talked to everything you know, but I haven't taught you everything.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know.

[SPEAKER_03]: Brilliant.

[SPEAKER_03]: There you go.

[SPEAKER_03]: You know what I do know.

[SPEAKER_03]: Jerry Gov has a 6.0 rushing average James one carry six yards.

[SPEAKER_03]: He let no he did not lead the team in rushing average.

[SPEAKER_03]: Oh my goodness.

[SPEAKER_03]: Raymond had nine because you ain't one carry, but you may have given that 7.8 yards a carry including that 42 yarder.

[SPEAKER_03]: Any any final thoughts guys.

[SPEAKER_03]: I think we're just about out of here.

[SPEAKER_00]: that that yard's precarious for Gibbs is even more impressed and impressive when you consider that he had that one play was like negative 12.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, he would have been over 100 yards.

[SPEAKER_03]: And if he hadn't, oh, my goodness.

[SPEAKER_03]: I forgot about that.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: And uh, oh, almost forgot to mention, pride of the Lions at halftime, Robert Porsche.

[SPEAKER_03]: got put up there.

[SPEAKER_03]: A little microphone difficulties when he was given his speech.

[SPEAKER_03]: It went out a little bit on him.

[SPEAKER_03]: I don't know if you guys saw any of that probably not.

[SPEAKER_03]: But the microphone kind of they brought him back up microphone and the back up didn't work either.

[SPEAKER_03]: So I think they're looking for a third string right now.

[SPEAKER_03]: But it was awesome to see him out there.

[SPEAKER_03]: Wayne Fons was there.

[SPEAKER_03]: There were a host of characters there, you know, lot of Detroit Lions alumni and Calvin Johnson introduced him.

[SPEAKER_03]: And so it was really cool because Robert Portrait, we talked about this earlier when it was announced he was going to be recognized.

[SPEAKER_03]: The guy was just a wrecking force.

[SPEAKER_03]: He was a staple on that defense coach.

[SPEAKER_03]: And it was great to see his name up there.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, and watch the one with him talking about Barry Sanders.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think I sent it to you guys.

[SPEAKER_01]: You got to watch it.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's hysterical.

[SPEAKER_03]: You did.

[SPEAKER_03]: I have not had a chance to catch that.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's pretty funny.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's pretty funny.

[SPEAKER_03]: All right.

[SPEAKER_03]: And he final thoughts.

[SPEAKER_03]: James, I asked you one.

[SPEAKER_03]: I'm asking you a second time.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, and I just a great win.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we were talking about how if this was a must win.

[SPEAKER_00]: And [SPEAKER_00]: they got it and I don't know if it was 100% this is a must win but it's really nice to get this one going into Baltimore.

[SPEAKER_03]: That it sure is.

[SPEAKER_03]: Coach, any of my thoughts from you?

[SPEAKER_01]: No, I'm just going to enjoy this W and then move on to who do we play next week?

[SPEAKER_01]: I can't remember.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, we'll take a day and talk about that.

[SPEAKER_03]: All right.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: I echo everything they've said, you know, nice to get that victory.

[SPEAKER_03]: Well, we know the team is where it needs to be and every week is a we're a work in progress.

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